Activist slapped with libel wants mayor sacked

By Jon Carlos Rodriguez, ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines – The environmental activist who was arrested and jailed over a Facebook post is mulling to file administrative charges against several officials, including the mayor of Gonzaga town in Cagayan, Carlito Pentecostes, Jr.

Espelita 'Perling' Garcia, who spent a night in jail last month over comments she made against the mayor, said she will seek the dismissal of Pentecostes from public office.

Garcia claimed that the mayor abused his authority when he asked for an apology from her for her Facebook post entitled “Aborted Rally Against Black Sand Mining in Gonzaga, Cagayan” in April 2011 and threatened to file a libel case if she doesn't apologize.

"The conflict only started when I opposed the blacksand mining operations by inviting DENR officials from Manila. I requested through emails to the DENR secretary to come and see for themselves the actual blacksand mining operations in Gonzaga, which had been denied by the DENR regional director and provincial governor in December 2010," said Garcia.

The 62-year-old Garcia was eventually sued for libel in May last year. The arrest was issued last October 18, just when a new law that can only cover Internet libel was halted by the Supreme Court.

“If we are for the ‘tuwid na daan’ as our anti-graft and anti-corrupt President Noynoy has always been telling us, yes, they all deserve to be dismissed for ineptness, abuse of power, and violations of the canons of judicial process,” said Garcia.

Pentecostes earlier said he had no intentions of harassing Garcia, adding that the libel case he filed last year was only meant to teach her a lesson.